Apparatus for fiberizing fusible inorganic substances and forming the fibers into bats



2,318 STANCES .BE/VJAM/A/ C FUSIBLE INORGANIC SUB E FIBERS INTO BATS B.C. M'cCLURE RIZING AND FORMING TH APPARATUS FOR FIBE Filed Aug. 21-,1939 May 4, 1943.

Patented May 4, 1943 APPARATUS FOR FIBERIZING FUSIBLE INORGANICSUBSTANCES AND FORMING THE FIBERS INTO BATS Benjamin C. McClure,

Chicago, Ill.,

assignor to Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, acorporation of Delaware Application August 21, 1939, Serial No. 291,23640mins. (Cl. 154-27) This invention relates to apparatus for fiberizingfusible inorganic substances and felting the resultant fibers into bats;the substances used being preferably those productive of the batsconstituting the claimed subject matter of U. S. Letters Patent No.1,913,242, of June 6, 1933; although the invention is applicable to, andwill work a material improvement in producing bats from fusibleinorganic substances of inferior qualities.

The present application uation-in-part of U. S.

constitutes a continpatent application, Serial No. 672,234, filed May22nd, 1933, (now Patent No. 2,172,153) which was a continuation in partof said Letters Patent No. 1,913,242. Letters Patent No. 2,172,153,while relating to the production of bats of inorganic fibers obtainedunder the known principle of flowing a stream of the inorganic substancein molten state, into the path of a blast of steam, air or other gas,that shreds or subdivides the substance into particles that becomeattenuated into fibers, introduces an important innovation in theprocedure by which the fibers are generated as well as in themanipulation and disposal of the fibers that result, and the manner oftheir disposal in felting them into the bat which they ultimately form.That is to say:

Prior to the present invention, the art of blasting furnace slags,natural silicious rock and the like, to produce fibers that might be byspecial treatment, assembled in so-called bats of mineral wool, taughtdisposal of the fibers that resulted from the blast upon the operativeprinciple of discharging the fibers through an opening in the wall of arelatively large settling room, with or without a defined passagewayleading from the blasting point through the said wall; and it collectedthe fibers in the form of a bat by permitting them to settle by gravity,superinduced by partial exhaustion of air upon a traveling foraminousbelt constituting the bottom of the room. Any substantial structuralintegrity in the resultant accumulation of fibers, was obtained only bythe use of adhesive substances so applied as to hold the fibers togetherat their points of intersecting contact.

The innovation described and claimed in Patent No. 2,172,153 resides ina method of procedure that causes the blasting medium and the shreddedor subdivided substance produced by the blast and borne in suspension toenter immediately into a constricted shaping, directing and positivelyprojecting and depositing barrel, in which it continues under propulsion(for instance of the conserved blasting force), as an effective vehicleto the felting point; accompanied by heat sumcient to insure continuedattenuation and consequent lengthening of the fibers and refinement oftheir caliber within the barrel; effecting the tempering of the fibersby controlled cooling; causing a more intimate commingling of the fibersas they continue suspended in the travelling fiber-ladened beam;insuring the maintenance of the sectional area of the beam, as well asdensity of fiber content in predetermined relation to the dimensions ofarresting and felting surface; causing deflection of the fiber-ladenedbeam, upon arrival at the transversely travelling foraminous collectingsurface and consequent positioning of the fibers in parallelism with theplane of the bat, and to a material extent, lengthwise of the' bat,thereby increasing structural integrity of the bat; production of acleaner product with respect to discarding so-called "shot at the bottomof the barrel where upward deflection of the beam occurs; and withal,insuring a product that is greatly superior to those obtainable withblasting and felting procedures heretofore known.

But while in Patent No. 2,172,153 the inventive ideas above alluded toare defined in terms of an art or process, the patent also shows anddescribes novel instrumentalities through which to facilitate therealization of the improvements in the art or process. The presentapplication as a division of the application of the said patent, isdirected to these novel instrumentalities.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation largely in vertical longitudinal section, of acomplete apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a detail view in longitudinal section in a horizontal plane,of the complete apparatus minus the fusing and blasting elements of thesystem.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are transverse sections taken, respectively, on thelines 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a detail view showing modified means for acting upon themolten mass to prefiberize it and deliver it into the path of thevehicular blast; also a means for developing a flame or hot gasenvironment around the molten mass for conserving its heat untilfiberizing fully takes place, instead of the means shown in Figure 1which contemplate taking some of the flame from the fire used for fusingthe mass of mineral material.

I represents a furnace that may be of any desired appropriateconstruction in which to melt molten mass appropriate for use inpracticing the present invention, said furnace being equipped with meansfor delivering a stream 2 of the batch in fused condition, and'meansbeing also provided for maintaining around this stream, and at least asfar as the point of fiberization, 'a high temperature gaseousenvironment, for instance, flame from the furnace or from anotheradjacentsource, having the capacity of retarding the cooling of themolten mass until fiberizing has taken place. 8 represents may bedelivered a fiberizing medium, instance, as steam under a substantialpressure, into which, as it issues, may automatically be drawn'air whichwill become highly heated and compensate condensation of the steam inmaintaining volume of and building up the vehicular beam that. suspendsand conveys the fibers. 4 represents a liquid fuel supply for thefurnace, and is typical of a means for maintaining a desired temperaturein the furnace.

Constihiencies or formulas for preferred batches appropriate forpracticing the present invention, will be found described and claimed inPatent No. 1,913,242, from the application for which the present case isin' part a division and in part a continuation. Such batches comprisegenerally, silica, an alkali metal and an alkali earth fused together inproportions that will produce fibers having length and fineness thatcause them to automatically felt themselves into a body having massintegrity sufilcient to enable the body to retain its-shape duringmanipulation and while in position of use. But I may use other fusiblematerials, for instance those constituting the subject-matter of myPatent No. 2,143,022, of January 10, 1939, in which I have described andclaimed a felted body of fiberized mineral compound consisting of asilica source and an amphoteric material, with or without a basicmaterial.

5 represents a duct, passageway, tunnel, or thelike, which, by reason ofthe effect which it produces upon the fiberized mass in the presentinvention, and notwithstanding it may be of any desired section or ofseveral sections at different places in its length, I herein refer to asthe barrel. Barrel 5 has an opening of determined capacity at its end 6for the influx of air induced by the blast of the nozzle 3, and it ispreferably of circular section at this point in order that the body ofair taken in under the influence of the blast located at the center ofthe section, may be uniform throughout. This circular section willpreferably continue for a material distance, for instance, to a pointsuggested by the transverse line I in Figure 2, where it will begin tochange its section for. the dual purpose of exercising a desirableinfluence upon the fibers that are being borne through the barrel andcausing the area of delivery of the said fibers as they leave the remoteend of the barrel to assume a definite form in relation to the wallorsurface upon which the fibers are collected. And this change of form ispreferably attained by first reducing the transverse dimension of thebarrel 5 in one direction,

for instance, vertically, to bring it to a section typified by thatshown in Figure 4 and which is attained at a point suggested by the line4-.4 of Figure 2; and thereafter reducing it in a directionperpendicular to the direction of first reduction and, in thisillustrative instance, horizontally, so that the barrel attains the formof section shown in Figure 5. by the time the dis- 1 pelling them,anomle through which 1 the barrel in better condition to encounter thesuch, for I charge end is reached} 5-5 in Figure 2. The sectionshown inFigure 5 may constitute a substantial diminution of capacity orsectional area as compared with either the section of Figure 3 or thatof Figure 4; and

this sectional reduction will have a beneficial effect upon the work inthat it condenses the mass of fibers, brings about increasedintermingling or interlocking of the fibers while they are still borneupon the gaseous vehicle which is proand causes the mass to issue fromarresting wall.

The flame or gaseous heat sustaining environment So will become mingledwith or added to the air that enters the barrel, since this air mustpass through or around the said environment in entering the barrel andthe result will be a material elevation of temperature in the vehicleupon which the fiber is borne, which has the effect of slowing down thecooling of the fiber and greatly improving its physical properties. Itis also to be noted that the-barrel confines against expansion thegaseous vehicle upon which the fibers' are borne to the point of deposit'and'thereby retards dissipation of heat from the fibers, besidesmaintaining the density of the vehicle and better enabling it to serveits purpose aswell as promoting intermingling of the fibers. as aninitial step toward the felting which. results from their deposit uponthe arresting wall. 1 i

The wall by which the fibers are arrested will preferably consist of aforaminous or reticulated structure, such as wovcnwire or the like asshown at 8, and in order that, this wall may be ever present at thepoint of fiber collection and at the same time given a travel whichenables it to bear away the felted fibers as they accumulate to thedesired thickness, the material of the wall is continued to produce anendless belt guided over rollers appropriately located to not onlypresent it as a collecting wall at the dis charge end of the barrel butto present the ac-' eumulating blanket in position for any desiredconvenient handling. For instance, the reticulated endless belt or wall8 may be guided around rollers 9 and ID to present the blanket inposition for developing into a roll II with a spacing sheet l2 fed. fromroll l3, and the said collecting wall may pass thence around drive rollsl4, I5 with intervening tensioning roll l6 and guide roll [1, which,with the guide roll 9, defines the position of the portion of the wallupon which the blanket is developed.

l8 represents an air trunk which is so related to the rear side of thecollecting wall 8 as to receive all that portion of the gaseousvehicletnat passes through the wall 8 and prevents chokage or backpressure which would adversely influence the flow of the vehicle.discharge passage from the trunk l8, suitably elbowed to avoidinterference with the endless belt 8. 2! represents an exhaust fan;typical of any means for inducing discharge from the trunk l8, whichmeans,' however, could be the draft naturally induced in the stack 22 bythe levity of the discharged vehicle, which, it will be understood stillretains a substantial proportion of thetemperature resulting from themolten stream, the fiame that accompanied it, the fiberizing medium, orall of them.

The escape port 23a, maintained between the discharge end of barrel 5 orthat portion of the developed blanket on-the wall 8 which is leaving thearea of the barrel, preferably delivers-into a as suggested by the linel9 and 20 represent ahoodi23 having discharge stack 24 for carrying offdust and waste particles, communication between hood 23 and stack 24being regulated by a baflle 25. By this means a substantial proportionof the propelled vehicular gaseous beam reaching the end of the barrelis deflected upwardly in parallelism with the bed of fiber beingdeposited, and has a beneficial influence upon the structural integrityof the bat as well as its degree of freedom from shot which naturallysettle on the bottom of the barrel en route and to the extent that theymay continue with the bat upward, will remain next to the wire wall 8and not be trapped in the bat structure. By regulating the draft at theport 23a, the flow of the fibers borne upon the upper portion of thegaseous vehicle, which might otherwise be undesirably reduced by reasonof the thickening dimension of the blanket at that point, will be keptup so as to assure continued accumulation of fibers until the blanketpasses from the influence of the barrel. Moreover, this deflection offlow of some of the gaseous vehicle towardthe port 23a has the effect ofdirecting the ultimate position of fibers which has a beneficialinfluence on the resultant blanket structure. To determine theproportion of this'positioning effect, the volume of gaseous vehicleescaping through the port 23a in proportion to that which passes throughtheaccumulating blanket and reticulated wall 8, may be determined byproper adjustment of bafile 25 and pressure in the air trunk I8.

As shown schematically in Figure 6, the stream 2, which may issue fromthe same source as in Figure 1, may be kept up to flberizing temperatureby a flame environment 3am issuing from an independent adjacent burner31w instead of from the furnace as in Figure 1; and in lieu of the steamor air jet as a means of flberizing, as

the gas collecting trunk' l8 will be coextensive with the discharge endof the barrel 5 in the horizontal direction, but will extend verticallybeyond the discharge end of the barrel at least a distance sumcient toinduce suction over that portion of the foraminous member 8 whichreceives the upwardly deflected portion of the fiber-laden gaseousvehicle and which is enclosed in the housing 23, the suction of whichcauses said deflection. As in my Patent No. 1,913,242, the discharge endof barrel 5 may be spaced from the felting member as shown at 5a herein,in order to facilitate escape of shot at the place of upward deflection.The fiber concerned with the deflection will be held to the foraminonsmember by suction of the trunk l8, that is maintained in excess of thesuction that induces the deflection. The volume of the deflected fibersmay be infiuenced by opening 23a that is regulated by valve 23b.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the preent invention simulates agun in its action in that the barrel 5 confines the propelling gaseousbeam; constricts its volume; conserves its heat and delivers the beamand its suspended fibers immediately against the felting member oraccumulating bed of fibers thereon with an improved felting I claim:

1. Apparatus for fusing and flberizing inorganic material and recoveringthe fibers as felt, said apparatus comprising a suitably mountedreticulated felting wall, means for delivering a stream of moltenmaterial, means delivering an auxiliary heating medium to andmaintaining a hot environment around the path ofthe issued moltenmaterial and blasting means having connections through which it receivesand delivers a propelled beam of vehicular gaseous material; saidblasting means delivering said beam against the portion of the moltenmaterial that is within the hot environment and being directed towardthe felting wall.

2..Apparatus for fusing and flberizing inorganic material and recoveringits fibers as felt, said apparatus comprising means for delivering aconstricted stream of inorganic material in molten state, meanssupplying an auxiliary heating medium to and maintaining a hotenvironment around said stream, means flberizing the molten material ofsaid stream, means driving into and mingling with the heating medium ofsaid environment during fiberization, means for delivering a propelledbeam of vehicular gas, a confining and directing barrel having areceiving end located to receive said propelled beam of gas, and

a fiber condensing member against which said 7 barrel discharges.

3. Apparatus for fusing and flberizing inorganic material and recoveringits fibers as felt, said apparatus comprising a reticulated feltingwall, means delivering a stream of molten material, means acting uponsaid stream of molten material to fiberize it, means supp ing anauxiliary heating medium to and maintaining a hot environment around themolten material during fiberization, means driving into and minglingwith the heating medium of said environment and'the fibers being formedthereat, means for delivering a vehicular receiving said beam of gas anddelivering it to said condensing member; said barrel having apredetermined configuration adjacent. the material supply and varying incross-sectional configuration longitudinally therefrom by an increase incross-sectional configuration in the direction of the intermediateportion of said barrel to increase the dimension thereof in onedirection and to reduce the dimension thereof in a directionsubstantially normal thereto, the said barrel having its cross-sectionalconfiguration further changed from said intermediate portion toward saidfiber condensing member to decrease the dimension in said one directionwhile substantially maintaining the dimension substan tially normalthereto, thereby varying the form of the fiber laden beam to produce auniform deposit of said fibers on said fiber condensing member.

'BENJAMm C. McCLURE.

